The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945

The Wehrmacht established Dulag 183 on April 8, 1941, from Frontstalag 183.¹ From July to September 1941, the camp was located in Salonika (Thessaloniki) (map 8), and in late September 1941 to late March 1942, it was in Šabac, in occupied Serbia (7). From late March until July 1942, the camp deployed to Defense District (Wehrkreis) V (4f). In September 1942, the camp deployed to the occupied Soviet Union, where it was initially located in Kanevskaia and then in Eisk (both 9h).² In November and December 1942, the camp deployed to Prokhladnyi (9i).³ In early 1943, the camp deployed to the Taman Peninsula (9h). The order to disband the camp was issued on August 26, 1943.⁴ Dulag 183 inherited Frontstalag 183’s field post number (Feldpostnummer), 02 457.

During its deployment in Greece, Dulag 183 was subordinate to the Twelfth Army Rear Area Commander (Kommandant rückwärtiges Armeegebiet, Korück, 560), and then, as of July 1, 1941, it was under the authority of the Armed Forces Commander, Aegean/Salonika (Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Ägäis/Saloniki). While deployed in Serbia, the camp was subordinate to the Armed Forces Commander of Serbia (Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Serbien).⁵ While deployed in Defense District V, beginning on March 31, 1942, the camp was under the authority of the Armed Forces High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW).⁶ From August 1942, the camp was under the Army Group A Rear Area Commander and the Prisoner of War District Commandant P (Kriegsgefangenen-Bezirkskommandant P).⁷ Beginning on November 17, 1942, the camp was subordinate to the First Panzer Army Rear Area Commander (Korück 531), and, as of January 8, 1943, it was under the authority of the Seventeenth Army Rear Area Commander (Korück 550).⁸

In 1940 and 1941, the camp commandant was Major Georg Pohl, who was replaced by Major (later Oberstleutnant) Altmann. The deputy commandant was Hauptmann Sahler. The camp adjutant was, initially, Oberleutnant Hugo Radke, whose replacement was Oberleutnant Thümmel. The camp officer (from August 1942) was Hauptmann Ernst Herlikofer, the head the administrative staff was Oberzahlmeister Ludwig Graf, the counterintelligence (Abwehr) officer was Hauptmann Dr. Bastian, the camp physician was Oberstabsarzt Dr. Ludwig Schott, his deputy was Unterarzt Dr. Gerhard Pfeiffer, and the commander of the guard company was Hauptmann Wilhelm Vömel. On March 1, 1943, there were 167 persons in headquarters, and the guards consisted of 172 Russian volunteers (Hilfswillige, Hiwis).⁹ On May 22, 1943, there were 159 headquarters personnel, and the camp guard force consisted of 119 Hiwis.¹⁰

While deployed in Serbia and Greece, the camp held British, Greek, and Serbian prisoners. While it was located at Salonika in mid-1941, the camp held British and Greek prisoners who had been captured on Crete. These prisoners were transported to Athens by air, then marched or driven in cattle trucks to Salonika. They were housed in old Turkish army barracks, surrounded by barbed wire. These barracks were in poor shape and lacked electric lights and plumbing. A report from May 27, 1941, indicated that the camp held 10,836 British soldiers (including 359 officers) and 1,530 Serbian prisoners (467 officers), for a total of 12,366 men.¹¹ Additional prisoners were transferred to the camp from other locations in Greece, such as Corinth and Crete, in early June 1941.

Upon their arrival at the camp, the prisoners were faced with inadequate shelter, poor sanitation, overcrowding, poor food supply, and, consequently, disease. The water supply at the camp was contaminated. The prisoners’ rations consisted of ersatz tea in the morning, a thin soup (little more than “greasy hot water” according to some prisoners) at noon, and between a fifth and a tenth of a loaf of rye bread, along with three quarters of a biscuit in the evening. These rations amounted to less than 1,000 calories a day, which caused dramatic weight loss among the prisoners; some lost as much as 50 pounds in 3 months. Many also suffered from vitamin deficiency and resultant diseases, such as beriberi.

In an attempt to alleviate their hunger, some prisoners attempted to obtain food from the local Greek population, while others were reduced to selling their possessions in order to get something to eat. The lack of food (as well as other goods, such as tobacco) led to theft, conflict, and distrust among the prisoners. There were additional tensions along ethnic lines; for example, between British and Palestinian or Cypriot prisoners.

The commandant of the camp was described by the British prisoners as “sadistic.”¹² Prisoners who were seen outside of the barracks at night, for whatever reason, were frequently shot. Anyone who attempted to escape was shot, and their bodies were left out in plain view of other prisoners as “an object [End Page 100] lesson.”¹³ In the summer and fall of 1941, the prisoners from Salonika were sent to camps in the Greater Reich by train, usually in cattle cars. British and Serbian prisoners were generally sent to camps such as Stalag XVIII D in Marburg (today Maribor, Slovenia) or Stalag XVII A in Kaisersteinbruch, Austria; many prisoners’ final destinations were Stalag VIII B in Lamsdorf (today Łambinowice, Poland) or Stalag VII A in Moos-burg, two of the largest prisoner of war (POW) camps in Germany. By August 20, 1941, only 1,800 prisoners remained in the camp.¹⁴

After it deployed to the Soviet Union in August 1942, the camp held Soviet POWs. On October 20, 1942, there were 1,098 Soviet prisoners in the camp, all of whom were in permanent work parties (Dauerkommandos).¹⁵ During its deployment in Prokhladnyi, the camp was guarded by subunits of the 836th Reserve Battalion (Landesschützenbataillon).¹⁶

In January 1943, the camp sent about 1,000 prisoners from Terek to Krasnodar (792 of whom arrived there alive on January 27, 1943) and the headquarters was transferred via Prokhladnyi, Georgievsk, Mineral’nye Vody, and Armavir to Krasnodar. On January 14, 1943, the advance party of the headquarters reached Korück 550 in Krasnodar and was sent to the Cossack village of Varenikovskaia.¹⁷ On January 19, 1943, the railroad station Krasnaia Strela (near Temriuk, Krasnodarskii krai) was assigned to the camp as the location of the main camp. In early February 1943, 6,904 prisoners from various camps were en route to this camp.¹⁸ Several days later, the Krasnaia Strela site was disbanded, and the main camp was built in the village of Temriuk.

The camp headquarters was primarily occupied with the evacuation of the prisoners through the Kerch Strait to Crimea. Also held in the camp, from March 2, 1943, were civilians who were subject to evacuation to Crimea, including women and children. For the evacuation to Crimea, the prisoners and civilians were sent from the camp to the village of Il’ich or the village of Primorskii, and from there they were transferred to Kerch’, where a reception camp had been set up. The officer in charge of conveying the prisoners from Il’ich to Kerch’ was Hauptmann Otto. Strong points for the transport of the prisoners were also created in the villages of Golubitskaia, Akhtanizovskaia, Fontalovskaia, and Zaporozhskaia. By April 15, 1943, 15,342 prisoners and 5,087 civilians had passed through the camp, of whom 10,977 prisoners and 4,255 civilians were transferred to Crimea.¹⁹

The conditions in the camp were similar to those in other camps for Soviet POWs. Meager food rations, overcrowding, lack of proper medical care, and mistreatment by the German guards led to malnutrition and disease, which resulted in a high mortality rate. As in other camps, newly arrived prisoners were screened to separate out Jews and Communists, who then were shot near the camp by the guards or Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst, SD) personnel.²⁰